


You've never belonged before, so why should you now?

by kireiflora



Series: Kageyama's Past [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Birthday, Gen, the shipping is very mild
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-27
Packaged: 2018-05-29 09:36:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6369691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kireiflora/pseuds/kireiflora
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kageyama had always been lonely on his birthday, for as long as he could remember there'd been nobody there. When he joins Karasuno, he doesn't expect that to change. Birthday's don't mean that much in the grand scheme of things after all. </p><p>But Hinata has other plans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You've never belonged before, so why should you now?

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a post two months ago, and well, I couldn't resist writing it out.  
> Like everything else I do it got way away from me and I ended up with this monster. It's way more fluff than angst I promise.  
> This is technically in the same universe as Happy Graduation, Tobio.
> 
> http://mercifulghoul.tumblr.com/post/138188162259/ This is the post it's based off of.

The first time it happens you convince yourself it's an accident. A wrong date or location.

You’re let down, staring at empty chairs, but your parents drag your attention to gifts and then volleyball.

You ask them the next day, they all have different reasons; forgot, grounded, had plans (why did you say you could come? Your mind whispers) and so on. You let it drop.

The next year you ask three times, ask their parents to make sure the dates okay. Everyone assures you they'll be there.

Nobody is.

It’s harder to distract you this time, you get ice cream and a promise of a movie. You resolve to not let it get to you, you don’t mention it this time and you hear confused whispering throughout the day.

You don’t ask the next year. Or the one after that.

In fact, you never mention your birthday, pretend it's during break. Your parents spend the day with you anyway, and it keeps your mind off it.

So well in fact, it takes you years to realize you were never invited to anyone’s birthday.

When you realize it you just stare ahead blankly. Why…why did nobody like you? Is it because you’re too passionate about volleyball? Is it because you’re too polite? Is it your hair? Face? Hands? What have you done to make nobody like you?

You’re running, out of the house to the park, volleyball clenched in your small hands. Every footfall echoes with a ‘why?’ in your head. ‘Why, why, why, whywhywhywhy?’ you start tossing the ball and jumping to slam it into the ground. ‘Why. Why, why.’ Until finally your hands hurt and your back hurts and you can’t feel the weight of all the ‘why’s.

At the end of middle school, you think a lot of the ‘why’s have been answered.

Being with the Karasuno volleyball team isn’t that different. You hear them laughing about things that happened at each other's’ birthdays. You try not to let it bother you. They’re years above you and probably aren’t inviting first years anyway. It’s the least of your problems.

Until you hear Hinata talking to Nishinoya about Sugawara’s birthday.

It's stupid that such a small phrase froze you in place. But then it starts echoing in your head. ‘Sugawara-san’s birthday was super fun!’

Even Sugawara-san doesn’t like you, because Yamaguchi is there now with Tsukishima talking about it. How everyone was there.

You weren’t.

Despite everything, you don’t belong. You were foolish for thinking you did, that you could.

You want to run but you don’t want them to know they can get to you. You want to hit the ball as hard as you can but you can’t. You have to act normal.

When you finally get home you lay down and come to terms with the fact this team is just tolerating you as well. They don’t really care about you, you’re just a good setter. Your chest hurts and you don’t know why, it's what you wanted. Let in on your merit.

You know, deep down, that you were feeling wanted and like you were part of the team. Like you really belonged.

But you didn’t. You never have. And you’re starting to believe you never will. Because even Sugawara…

You sit up and grab your bag and throw yourself into the homework. You don’t want to think about volleyball, but it never fully leaves your mind, but you manage to keep your thoughts away from the team.

 

\-----

 

You’re watching Hinata bounce around the room, inviting all of the team to his birthday, and thinking that maybe, maybe, it’ll be different. You and Hinata are close aren’t you? Surely he, whose always there for you on the court likes you outside of it. You eat lunch together a lot and sometimes don’t talk about volleyball.

You’re friends….right?

You don’t even realize you’re staring until Hinata stares at you back in confusion. You hurriedly turn away and put your attention back into volleyball. It doesn’t matter, you insist, you’ve been fine not going to parties for years, it’ll just continue as normal.

After all, didn’t you expect this? You didn’t expect it to be any different, the fact that it was so much, made you think it would be even more. And that was stupid of you, you went from no expectations to too many, and set yourself up for failure.

But you’re still hurt when practice starts and you didn’t get an invite.

And that is a fatal mistake. Because if you screw up at volleyball, they have no reason to keep you around and they’ll abandon you just like your old one.

You need to stay on the team, you can’t lose volleyball. You can deal with people just tolerating you, but you can’t lose volleyball.

But you don’t really have a say in it. You know the exact moment you screw up because the ball nearly goes sailing past Asahi, who manages to correct and slam it down but after that everyone is staring at you and you know what they’re thinking. You’re still just a king, still making silent demands and no wonder none of them actually like you.

You’re blind to their worried glances at each other, all you can see are backs turned away from you, only now they’re black.

After a minute, play resumes after a few ‘don’t mind’s and back smacks.

This time however, you fumble the receive, that lands out of bounds before anyone can even react to fix it. You feel your chest tighten painfully and stare ahead, arms limp at your sides and you’re not even mad at yourself you’re just waiting for it now. The silence tightens the coil in your chest.

You’re not surprised when you’re pulled off the court, you are surprised by coach Ukai’s concern. You pass it off as a bad day, that’s all it is after all. You’ll be fine tomorrow after you get a chance to adjust.

You can feel Hinata staring at you every spare second as you sit against the wall with a wet towel over your head.

Who cares about birthdays? Not you (you do). You haven't before (you have), you moved past it ages ago (ignored it), you knew all along they didn’t really like you (you thought they were different), Hinata…means too much to you (he does). But who would want to go to his stupid party anyway (you.)?

You’re only let back on the court near the end of practice, but you preform perfect. Maybe a tad fast but not enough that anyone notices. Well Hinata probably would but you avoid tossing to him for the rest of the day. He can’t call you out for anything if he doesn’t know anything is wrong.

You change quickly, heading home before most have even gotten their shirts off. You know you’ll get called out for it next time but you just want to go home already.

You don’t fully account for Hinata though, because when you get home he’s there at your door, panting slightly next to his bike.

“Hina-”

“What’s wrong with you?” He snaps, glaring and tightening his grip on his handle bars. “You were acting weird and then even in volleyball, it has-”

“It’s nothing.” You snarl, anger in your veins because why is he pretending to care you know he doesn’t like you.

He jerks back, not expecting your anger. He pauses, fiddling with the handlebars. “Did I…did I do something?” He asks, nervous and worried.

You stare in confusion before sighing and shaking your head.

“It’s just…you were staring at me earlier…and then you were off at practice so I feel like I upset you…” he paused to swallow, “And I don’t like it when you’re, you know, really upset…”

You’re glad he’s not looking at you because you’re staring in confusion still because that sounds like he actually cares…but he doesn’t right?

Hinata must take your silence as a bad sign because he starts talking faster this time. “If I did something you have to tell me, I’m not a mind reader, but I know when you’re upset and-”

“It's not you!” You cut him off. “Its-” you want to say ‘me’ because it is but you're also desperate and this might be a way to finally find out what’s wrong about you. Why you just can’t be liked.

But you’ve paused too long now. “It is! It clearly is! Just tell me!”

He looks so desperate, like he badly wants to fix what’s wrong.

You know he can’t, but you sigh, giving into both of your desperations. “Can we do this inside?” You mutter and he brightens slightly, moving to let you open the door. You suppress your hands shaking that long but this is the moment and you’re tempted to make something up but you feel year's’ worth of ‘why’s weight coming down on your shoulders and slowly crushing you and it doesn’t matter he hates you anyway but maybe he’ll at least finally tell you why.

And maybe, maybe he doesn’t actually hate you. Because he looked so earnest and he came all this way…

You only realize you’ve been standing there in silence when Hinata pushes past you curiously to peek around the house. You refuse to let your nerves show any more than they already did as you guide him to your couch.

He immediately curls up so his back is against the armrest facing the opposite side. You sit in the middle, looking out over the living room.

“Kageyama.” He prompts after a minute of silence. “Tell me.”

You sigh, steeling yourself. “It’s just…” you trail off, the heat of the moment has passed and now you feel stupid, letting him into your house to confess this?

“Just spit it out Kageyama!”

His slightly annoyed statement makes you flinch before your lip curls in anger. “Dumbass! I just want to know why…”

“Why?” He prompts softly after a moment.

“Why I’m impossible to like, what about me is so horrible, why nobody wants me around except for volleyball and sometimes not even then, why year after year after year I’m never invited-” you swallow the full admission, “-never invited anywhere.” You finish lamely, staring at the floor and slightly out of breath.

The room -- the house -- is silent except for your breaths, yours slightly heavier and you feel the weight growing as the silence does and you refuse to look at him, you don’t want to see his face and whatever expression he’s making.

“Kageyama…” he says slowly, “I…” he trails off, clearly not having fully thought out what he was going to say.

You close your eyes tightly, bracing for whatever he’s going to say.

“You…” he huffs angrily, “You idiot!” He finally snaps out.

Your eyes snap open to stare at him. “What?” Your voice is somewhere between confusion and anger.

“Are you sulking because I was inviting people to my birthday?” He huffs frowning at you.

“No! Just forget it.” You shoot up from the couch to go upstairs. You don’t know why you’re upset, you knew he’d laugh at you anyway. Because it's obvious right? Obvious why nobody wants you around.

You just don’t understand. You thought he was different.

“No wait, Kageyama!” Hinata snatches at your wrist. “Don’t go, please.”

“Get off!” You shake your arm, you just want to go upstairs because it was stupid, you shouldn’t have said anything.

“No wait, Kageyama, I’m sorry.” He’s digging his fingers into your wrist, trying to keep you there. “I didn’t-you seem like-you wanted to go?” He asks finally, voice cracking.

You heave a big sigh, “That’s not the point.”

“Then tell me the point.” He says softly, relaxing his grip slightly.

“I already did.” You mutter, but sit back down.

He shifts his grip, fidgeting as he seems to think. You’re not going to say it again, once was enough for you. “Kageyama…” he starts, shifting to sit next to you so your knees touch. “Do you think people don’t like you? That the team doesn’t like you?”

You close your eyes tightly against the words. “No.” you muttere, because he makes it sound like it's only a small possibility. “I know so.” You’re hands are fisted, he was supposed to laugh and say of course nobody likes you, you’re too intense, too scary, too much of a king. Not lie to you and hurt you more by trying to give you feeble, false hope.

“Kageyama…” his voice breaks, hand fluttering on your arm. “I’m so sorry.”

You twitch, “Don’t-”

“No, let me-let me talk.” Hinata cuts you off. “I never understood-I never thought about-I-” he growls slightly, “Nobody should’ve excluded you.” He finally spits out, anger making the words sharp as knives.

You can’t stop a short bitter laugh.

“I mean it! It was unnecessary and cruel and for your team-” he begins passionately.

“It’s not about my last team!” You snarl back, wrenching away from him.

He grabs your arm, but doesn’t speak. You try to be patient and let him find something to say, but you’re sweating and just want to go already. This is all pointless anyway.

“Even when you were young?” He finally asks softly, voice cracking.

You nod sharply, refusing to look at him. It's easier to pretend he doesn’t exist.

“I-I’m sorry. I -the team thought you wouldn’t want to go to a party. That’s the only reason you haven’t been invited to any. We didn’t want to put you on the spot and I contributed to that and I’m so sorry Kageyama. None of us should’ve assumed something like that that would exclude you. The team likes you Kageyama, really we do…” he trails off, “You can of course come to my party if you want, I never meant to make you feel left out, I just thought it’d be a no anyway.” He’s leaning around, trying to look at your face but you avoid him.

“What makes Karasuno so special?” You snap instead because it’s not that simple. This team you joined at this random school can’t be so different and special than every other school you’ve been to.

“Karasuno is just that wonderful Kageyama. Give us another chance, please?”

You sigh slightly and nod, what else are you supposed to sway? You’ve been hurt too badly? They have to earn it? You sound petty even to yourself.

Hinata doesn’t last much longer before reluctantly admitting he has to get home.

 

\-----

 

You go to his party, after a long internal debate because it was probably just a pity invite and nobody wants you there but you want to know what it's like so you go.

You surprise yourself by actually having a good time, after the awkward moment when you arrived and nobody knew you were coming.

But going to a party is different from inviting people to yours. Even after being invited to others and going to most (not Tsukishima’s, you were sure that was a pity invite), you couldn’t get over your fears.

So you wake up to an empty house, which has been the norm for awhile, and listen to the echo of your footsteps as you go down to find the note on the fridge, telling you your parents are out all day and there’s a cupcake in the fridge for you and spending money in a card.

You decide to save the cupcake for later, you know it’ll be a big one and you don’t want the sugar so early.

It’s a weekend too, so you’re not going to see the team at all. You sit on the couch and play the volleyball tape that’s in, and don’t even really pay attention.

You try not to think about what everyone else is doing.

Once the afternoon rolls around, you go to have your cupcake.

Riiiiiiing!

The doorbell jerks you out of your thoughts, and you turn to it, confused.

Your chest feels tight as you move towards the door, you’re not sure why. It’s probably just Hinata wanting to practice, nobody knows it's your birthday.

You take a deep breath before opening the door.

 

To emptiness.

 

You close the door with a sigh that’s somewhere between relief and disappointment.

Whatever, it’s just your birthday. You think, going to get the cupcake. It’s not a big deal

Except it kinda is.

You’re eating the cupcake when the doorbell rings again and you ignore it, turning the volume up on the volleyball you’re not paying attention to.

Then it rings again, and a moment later your phone does. You get up to let you parents in, unsure why they’re home so early.

You open the door again, cupcake in hand.

“Happy Birthday Kageyama!” Hinata’s voice rings out, jumping in front of your door.

You’re staring in shock, not understanding why he’s here. Wait-happy birthday? How did he know? Hinata is bouncing in place, smiling at you brightly, watching your lack of reaction.

“C’mon say something!”

“What are you talking about?” You finally snap because you can’t deal with this, can’t deal with suddenly someone caring about your birthday.

“Kageyaaaamaaa.” He whines at you. “Takeda-san checked for Shimizu-senpai, don’t try to lie!”

You flinch from the door, ignoring the happy feeling pooling in your gut because this has to be a prank. “Dumbass! Did you ever think maybe there’s a reason?” You can only snap.

To your surprise he nods, “You didn’t know how to invite us,, or how to put together a party. But Kageyama, you’re important.”

“Us?” You can only ask in shock because you’d half expected Hinata to somehow find out, but ‘us’?

Hinata grins widely, “Yeah, the rest of the team will show up in a couple hours!”

“Wha-Hinata you can’t jus-ho-what?” You can’t keep up with this and you end up staring at him.

He grins widely though, rocking on his feet. “C’mon Kageyama, give us a chance.” He smiles softly at you.

In the back of your mind you see empty chairs and whispers and feel that crushing sadness. But you want to give Karasuno a chance. You want to be proven wrong.

“Okay.” you say softly.

His face lights up like festival fireworks, and he jumps forward, hugging you. You scramble to catch him with one arm, somehow still mindful of your cupcake and for a moment he just grins at you before he suddenly leans up and kisses the tip of your nose before letting go and standing in your doorway again.

You stare at him with wide eyes and he laughs, clearly pleased with himself for stunning you. “Happy birthday!” He says again.

You smiled slightly at him, hearing it from someone else feels so…nice.

“Is it okay if everyone comes here, or should we use the gym instead?” He’s looking around your house as he talks.

“I…” you’re not sure, for the most part it doesn’t matter, but you kinda don’t want the team in your house, you’ll be more anxious. “The gym.”

He pouts slightly but nods and pulls out his phone, tapping out a quick message. “Wanna hang out here for a bit?” He asks you.

You shrug slightly, it’s Hinata. You’re more at ease around him, until the thought hits you that oh yeah, you’ve never had someone over and don’t know what to do now.

Hinata doesn’t mention your sudden stiffness, peeking around you. “Oh! You’re watching a match!”

You’d completely forgotten the game playing in the background but it's a welcome distraction and you pass an hour, watching and commentating with Hinata and it's pretty fun.

He glances at the time and stands up. “It’s time to go to the gym!” He bounces in place eagerly, waiting for you to stand up and join him.

You’re reluctant to stand, this is the best birthday you can remember and you don’t want it to end up ruined because of something you do or say and it’s not that you don’t trust Karasuno but you just want to stay in this moment forever.

Hinata frowns at you as you remain sitting, “Kageyama…c’mon the team wants to celebrate our genius setter.” He pokes your forehead, “Stop worrying and trust us, okay?”

You look at his extended hand, you so badly want to believe him and the team, but -- you stop overthinking it and grab his hand, letting him pull you to your feet with the widest grin you’ve seen on his face.

“Hinata.” You say before he drops your hand to run off, he looks up at you attentively. “...thank you.”

“Idiot, you don’t have to thank me for this.” He snorts slightly but grinned at you all the same.

 

\-----

 

By the time you get to the gym your nerves are back but you know Hinata won’t let you back out.

Hinata is bouncing eagerly as you approach the gym, and waits in front of the doors until you join him and he eagerly throws the doors open.

You’re not sure what you were expecting but the team rushing towards the doors wasn’t it. Noya is practically crawling over Asahi to try and get there first, Yamaguchi has surged ahead of both of them, and you’re dimly aware of Hinata watching you as you stare slack-jawed at all the fuss.

Daichi steps in from the side. “One, two…”

“Happy Birthday Kageyama!” They chorus gleefully. Noya finally throwing himself over their terrified ace. Unfortunately that makes Asahi stumble into Tanaka who was already jostling Ennoshita and within seconds half the team is struggling to stay on their feet.

There’s silence in the gym and you can’t help the laughter that bubbles up inside, raising a hand to your mouth as you let it out like you haven’t in years because it's so Karasuno and wonderful because the whole team is there and you almost want to cry at how wonderful it feels.

Your laugh dies as you realize it's the only sound in the gym, the entire team is staring at you and you swallow because fuck you fucked up anyway and this was a horrible idea and why did you go along with Hinata?

“Pay up!” Sugawara suddenly demands, looking over the team.

Daichi snickers as the second years pout, next to you Hinata looks as confused as you feel but at least they’re not staring at you anymore.

“How did you know?” Noya whines at the third year.

Sugawara is actually smirking, “Because Kageyama’s voice.”

“I told you not to bet against Suga, you all also owe Asahi for the how as well.”

“Uhh…” you start.

“What’s going on?” Hinata voices your question.

“The team bet against Suga on what Kageyama’s laugh would be like, and what would finally cause it.” Daichi replies with a small smile, “But that can be dealt with later, now it's time for a party!” He puts a hand on your shoulder to drag you into the gym proper.

It's easily the best birthday you’ve ever had. But you already knew it would be.

The bar is low, but even then it’s better than you ever expected it to be.

Especially when you realize there’s a small mountain of gifts for you, when you notice them tucked into a corner you freeze in place because why are there so many? Is there one from every team member or something?

It turns out the answer is yes, because an hour later every person has a gift in hand and you’re sure your eyes are bugging out because really?

Hinata is bouncing in place, clearly happy and excited.

Ennoshita is the first to step forward, “As you’ve probably noticed, we all got you something,” he smiles at you, “I hope you like all of them.” He holds out his present and you take it, unsure if you’re supposed to rip it right open or wait or what, but luckily Hinata is there and nudges you and you take the hint to open it.

It’s just a small fairly flat thing, and when you rip the paper away it turns out to be a necklace, specifically a necklace with a good sized volleyball as the charm.

You look up to see Ennoshita rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “It’s not a big thing but I figured it was my safest bet to go with something volleyball related.”

You nod slightly, in fact you’re surprised by how much you like it, enough that you carefully tug it out of its packaging and slip it on over your head.

Ennoshita blushes at your actions but looks pleased and you nod at him, “Thanks.”

“I’d rather go now,” Kinoshita steps forward as Ennoshita steps back, “I ended up at a bit of a loss, and I know some of us,” he glances to the sides at specific people probably, “Got some really good things.” He holds out a box, about the size of Ennoshita’s.

Hinata takes the empty wrappings from your hands and shoves it into a big trash bag and part of you wants to yell at him not to do that because you have this urge to save it but you know that would be weird. So you suppress the urge and take the box from Kinoshita and turn it around until you figure out where it opens, and dump it into your hand curiously.

It’s a gift card, for a volleyball store. Part of you understands why he’d rather go early and another part of you is still touched all the same.

“Thank you.” You say quickly, before he can get too flustered and he nods and backs up and part of you wonders if this circle of in/out is a normal thing.

“A-ah! Me n-next!” Yachi jolts forward, blushing and flustered and stopping anyone from stepping up, you try not to feel too awkward by proxy as she quickly hands out another small gift and you’re kinda thankful they’re all so small so far, you’re not blind to the bigger gifts people are holding.

You nod and feel a bit bad to unwrap what was clearly carefully done wrapping, and out drops a little keychain. It’s similar to the necklace you wear now, only there’s words on a second charm next the the volleyball. You struggle to hold it in a way that the words stop spinning and you hear Yachi apologizing in the background as you finally manage to make them out ‘Best Setter’. You feel your face heat up slightly and quickly thank her, and she cuts off her apologies to thank you and quickly dart back to her place in the semi-circle.

Nobody steps forward for a minute before Nishinoya jumps forward, “I guess I’ll go next then!” He grins widely, holding out an envelope. “If you don’t want it you can feel free to re-gift it to someone as well, but-” he cuts himself off as you open it and pull out the piece of paper inside it. “If you ever want a piercing or a small tattoo, you’ve got it!” He finishes grandly, with a small bow to the group.

“Kageyama with a tattoo?” Hinata looks you up and down before nodding slightly. “Great idea Noya-senpai!” He adds, turning to him.

You blush, flustered at the idea. You’d never thought about either of those things but now you find yourself wondering what you would want if you did get something. You put the coupon back inside and close the envelope back up trying not to lose it, and make sure to keep an eye on Hinata’s cleaning so that he doesn’t toss it on accident.

Tanaka steps forward, “You look like you need a bag right about now Kageyama.” He grins, holding out his gift which is something in a decent sized gift bag. Nobody’s surprised that he followed Nishinoya’s lead.

You pull the paper out of the top and whatever it is looks like clothes, and is fully wrapped in more of the paper so you pull it out and let the other gifts drop into the bag and set it down next to you before ripping the paper away. You see orange and black but you’re still not sure what it is until you pull it fully out and unfold it. It’s a jacket, clearly Karasuno themed but not anything they sell at the school. It has the volleyball club and setter on the back of it and your number on the sleeve.

You look up at him, somewhat startled by the gift and he laughs a bit. “I wanted you to have something that reminded you of the school but was more unique. It’s a bit bigger than your size as well, in case you grow a bit more.” He grins at you, puffing his chest out. “Am I the best senpai or what?”

“Tanaka-senpai!” Hinata gasps for you, “That’s so cool!”

“Dumbass!” You reach out to grab his head. “I can speak for myself!”

“Well you weren’t going to and that’s super cool I’m so jealous!” He dodges your grab and grins up at you.

Tanaka throws back his head and laughs, “Maybe one day you will be cool enough to deserve such a gift!” He challenges.

“Cool enough?” You mutter, confused.

Tanaka grins at you, “You bet kouhai!”

Daichi drags Tanaka back, “Okay calm down baldy, give him some space.”

Tanaka huffs, rubbing his head but quiets down.

After a moment you tug on the jacket, to see how it fits and Hinata makes little excited noises next to you.

“You look so cool Kageyama! Turn so the team can see the back, turn!” He says, tugging at you.

You roll your eyes but turn around obligingly, and the team ‘ooh’s and ‘ahh’s at it before you turn back around to thank Tanaka.

Daichi is the next to step forward and you stare at him nearly holding your breath. He surprises you by handing out a slip of paper and you take it and can’t help the snicker once you read what it is. A ‘get out of Daichi’s anger free’ coupon. Hinata peeks over your arm and bursts out laughing.

“Daichi-san! You can’t just go handing those out!”

“Ah, ah, it’s one of a kind!” He laughs in return, crossing his arms loosly.

“What is it?” Tanaka and Nishinoya are holding each other back from crowding him.

“A free pass for making Daichi-san mad.” You reply.

The entire team gapes at you, then at Daichi.

“Oh, so you’re so sure the king is gonna make you mad again?” Tsukishima can’t help but call out.

Daichi laughs good naturedly, “If I graduate and it’s not been used, I guess it becomes an IOU one birthday gift.”

You pull out the envelope with Nishinoya’s coupon and add Daichi’s to it to keep it safe.

When you look up Sugawara has stepped forward, holding out his book sized gift. “Happy birthday, from one setter to another.” He smiles at you and you feel your curiosity rising, one setter to another? Must be related to being a setter in some way.

It ends up being a box, and opening it you realize its some kind of nail care kit and you glance up at him. He smiles, “It’s the same stuff I use, I’m sure you have some of your own but can’t hurt to try right?” You nod and close the box, placing it carefully in the bag.

“Thank you.” You add once you look up and Sugawara nods at you and steps back.

Tsukishima steps forward, or rather, is shoved forward by a smiling Yamaguchi.

He huffs in annoyance but hands out a…usb stick? Your confusion must show on your face because he sighs. “It’s a music playlist. Listen to it sometime, or don’t. I don’t care.”

Yamaguchi snickers slightly behind him, “I don’t know what’s on there,” he starts, “but Tsukki puts a lot of thought into things like this, so don’t take it at face value!” He chirps, and steps forward himself.

(You will later find out that it’s a bunch of songs with ‘king’ in the lyrics or title. You nearly bin the thing right away but you remember Yamaguchi’s words and actually listen to the lyrics and figure Tsukishima isn’t actually that big of a dick. They’re kinda nice.)

Tsukishima looks put out, like he wanted you to just take it at face value and trash it at some other time. Yamaguchi is happily handing out a wrapped gift, that was bent in the way only clothes did and you unwrap it, you can make out that its white and has something on it, but that’s it until you hold it up and turn it around to get a good look at it. It was a volleyball with ‘setter’ across it and below it in big writing ‘perfect sets’.

Yamaguchi laughed slightly, “I saw it and thought of you so…” he trails off, rubbing the back of his neck.

You don’t realize you’re grinning because you love it until you stop as you look at him. “Thank you.” You say, trying not to put too much emotion into it and freak him out.

Shimizu steps in from the side and you turn to her, surprised, and she hands out a small book along with a usb stick and you look at what the book is and feel yourself blushing. “H-how…”

She smiles at you, “I pay attention.” She steps back into the circle and you slip the piano book into the bag before anyone can get a good look at it, and assume the usb has piano music or something along those lines.

“What waaaas it?” Hinata pouts, trying to peek into the bag, “Kageyamaaaaa!” He whines.

“No.” you state, glaring him down and he pouts but settles back down next to you. “Thank you.” You add to Shimizu who smiles again and nods.

Narita steps forward, holding yet another envelope and you take it when he hands it out, “I hope you’ll enjoy this.” He says with a smile and you open it and pull out a few slips of paper and frown for a moment before you realize they’re tickets to volleyball games and your head snaps up and you stare at him in shock. He laughs slightly, rubbing the back of his head. “I figured you might like them…”

You nod, you’re not even sure what games exactly they’re for but they’re volleyball games and it’s been awhile since you’ve gotten to go to a big one in person. You’re not aware your grinning again until Sugawara grins. “Seems like we have a winner!” He teases.

Narita is still grinning. “I won’t say how many there are, so nobody gives you hassle about not inviting them along, but I hope you have a good time.”

“Of course!” You say quickly, and there is scattered laughter because of course you’d have a good time, it’s volleyball.

Hinata moves from your side for the first time, picking up the big box at his feet. “Well Asahi insisted on being last, so here’s mine!” He holds it out to you and you can tell by the way his hands grip it that he’s nervous, hoping you’ll like it.

You take it and unwrap it, only slightly surprised to find a box, the more surprising part is that there’s no logos on it anywhere. You’re sure your confusion shows as you pull it open and see a volleyball. You’re not sure why he thinks you wouldn’t like it, it’s a very ni-

You trip over your own thoughts as you pull it out and realize there’s markings on it. Signatures.

Familiar writing at that.

Members of the team.

Signing a volleyball. For you.

Your lungs are burning, clearly you stopped breathing but you can’t think or feel or see anything other than the volleyball. You couldn’t tell later if anyone had said anything, your vision is tunneling and you only take a breath when someone, Asahi it turns out, slaps you on the back with some force. And that’s more from startlement but once you take that breath you start breathing again.

“Kageyama, Kageyama say something, anything!” Hinata is hitting your back, also grabbing your shoulder and shaking you with his other hand but your vision is stuck on the volleyball. “Tsukishima did you go last to put something rude on it? I’ll kill you!” He throws over your head and you haven’t even managed to read any of them but you feel like that’s not right.

“The king hasn’t even seen mine yet, don’t blame me.”

You make some noise and you’re not sure what you’re trying to say with that noise but Hinata relaxes slightly next to you anyway.

“You okay there Kageyama?” Daichi asks and you manage to nod, spinning the volleyball reflexively to help calm yourself down, and to spin the wet spots on the top out of view. You’re sure if you actually stop to read what they put you’ll cry so you wordlessly put it back in the box very gingerly.

“S-sorry.” You mutter, flush creeping up your neck as you finally realize what just happened and how foolish you must’ve looked.

Hinata opens his mouth like he’s going to say something, but Asahi quickly cuts across him. “The whole team did something else as well,” the ace is blushing lightly, “I-I kinda mentioned it to them and they went a bit crazy with them and well…” he holds out a small box and you take it from him and open it.

You’re not sure what to make of it, you can make out strings and patterns and lots of colors and your confusion must show on your face or maybe Asahi was going to go on anyway, “So everyone made a little friendship bracelet. Some people tried to do crazy patterns with mixed results…and I made sure they’re all adjustable so you can take them on and off.” he takes something from Sugawara, “And well, it’s not really a gift but the biggest thing I did was this…” he struggles with the lid of some circular tub and Sugawara pulls it up for him and there’s a cake. A full, decent sized cake.

You haven’t seen a full cake with your name on it in years. You feel like you’re going to stop breathing again but you manage to not space out this time. “You bake Asahi-san?”

“Only for special occasions!” Nishinoya jumps forward, “You’re the first birthday cake he’s done in awhile!” He adds, grinning widely. “I can’t wait to dig in…” he’s eyeing the cake in a way that makes Asahi raise it up over his head with a look of alarm.

“Thank you…” you say again and feel like a broken record but you can’t think straight anymore, blown away by what the team’s done for you. What Hinata probably had a big hand in doing.

The team is quick to clamor over the cake and you get a minute of peace, staring down at the bag of gifts, and you’ve almost forgotten about the two you’re wearing and you’re so overwhelmed you can almost feel the tears gathering in your eyes but that can wait, you can cry when you get home.

Hinata strays back to your side, “D-did you like it all?” He asks hesitantly.

You swallow and nod.

He smiles slightly, “I’m glad then.” He starts to head away, then pauses and hugs you tightly for a moment before pulling away just as quick. “Happy birthday.”

You start to understand why people look forward to birthdays as you watch him rush back to the group for cake. You lean down and mess with things to make sure nothing is being crushed in your bag before you go over to join in and enjoy the cake.

It’s the best cake you’ve ever had.

\-----

It’s still some time before you head home, and Hinata insisted on going with you and you shrug and let him.

What you weren’t expecting is for him to be so twitchy, he keeps looking at you and either smiling or looking away quickly, all while grabbing at his shirt in the way you know means he’s nervous about something.

“Oi, what’s wrong?” You finally demand, unable to take it anymore.

He jumps forward, startled. “N-nothing’s wrong? Why would anything be wrong? We’re walking home and you’re happy and you're smiling and it makes me happy!”

“I’m smiling?” Your hand rises to your lips self-consciously.

“S-so you see nothing’s wrong!” He grins widely.

“Dumbass, I’m not going to be tricked.” You frown at him, “What’s wrong.”

He sighs, looking down and fiddling with the edge of his shirt. “I…kinda have something else for you…but it’s kinda embarrassing…”

You stare at him, you know if you wait long enough he’ll give it up, even as your heart beats faster because oh gosh another gift? You don’t know how to deal with everything that’s happened today.

He lets out a whine and starts digging in his bag. “Okay, okay, just stop frowning at me on your birthday!”

To say you’re surprised when he pulls out what looks like a good luck charm is an understatement. He sheepishly holds it out to you and you take it gingerly, checking it and finding its one of the rarer ones for happiness.

He’s blushing but seems pleased now that he’s given it to you. “I just wanted to get you one…”

“Thank you Hinata. For everything.” You reply softly, holding the charm carefully but tightly.

“I could hardly let my best friend’s birthday be anything less than amazing!” He replies, jumping up into the air. “I’m glad you enjoyed it, I was worried that you wouldn’t.”

You nod slightly, hand tightening on the bag with gifts. “I was worried too.”

When you get home you return to watching volleyball, and its late when your parents get home and they nearly fall over each other when they realize you have a friend over. That makes Hinata realize how late it is and he rushes off home.

That night you finally look at all the signatures and smile softly, falling asleep cradling it.

Maybe you weren’t so unlikeable after all.

Maybe you do belong.

Actually, you’re starting to think you really do.

**Author's Note:**

> NEVER MAKE THE DECISION TO MAKE EVERY CHARACTER GIVE SOMEONE A GIFT I REGRET THE PAIN AND SUFFERING SO MUCH. 3K WORDS OF GIFT GIVING OH MY GOD.
> 
> Also I'm sorry for some of the gifts, I was running out of ideas and also Hinata's gift was put down as 'gay af lucky charm'


End file.
